Powerchip is thinking of doing a group buy out here in Seattle . I'm trying to gauge how many people would be interested in getting their ECU flashed by them. If we can get enough people together, Powerchip will fly out here and give us discounted group buy pricing . Best of all, we'll be able to have our ECU flashed with NO downtime

I've been considering an ECU flash for some time now and am deciding to pull the trigger on it. If you're interested, please add your name to the list. Let's get this party started fellas...

Powerchip is thinking of doing a group buy out here in Seattle . I'm trying to gauge how many people would be interested in getting their ECU flashed by them. If we can get enough people together, Powerchip will fly out here and give us discounted group buy pricing . Best of all, we'll be able to have our ECU flashed with NO downtime

I've been considering an ECU flash for some time now and am deciding to pull the trigger on it. If you're interested, please add your name to the list. Let's get this party started fellas...

Put me down as a maybe...I should really wait until after I get my mid-pipe upgrade to do the tune..but I'd be interested to see what they wanted for the group buy...if it's a screamin' deal I might just do it.

Put me down as a maybe...I should really wait until after I get my mid-pipe upgrade to do the tune..but I'd be interested to see what they wanted for the group buy...if it's a screamin' deal I might just do it.

Pricing is as follows...

Stage 1: $990 reg. - $790 gb
Stage 2: $1400 reg. - $1190 gb

Also, regarding the Stage 2 + Vanos, Mike said that the fee to upgrade would be nominal i.e. 200-300 for handheld flasher which includes the new Vanos files and stock files.

In standard form, the BMW M3 4.0 V8 produces 555 hp, however the addition of a PowerchipGold 93 will increase the power to 593 hp. In addition to the extra power, the torque is also increased. The M3 4.0 V8 produces 213 lb.-ft standard, and this is increased to 227 lb.-ft. This means more pulling power especially up hills.

The manufacturers of your car have tuned the full throttle maps very well from the factory settings and as such there are smaller percentage gains available on full throttle with the Powerchip. However, with the Powerchip there is still a great improvement in part throttle power, which is where you will spend most of your driving day. Throttle response is also sharpened significantly and the strong mid-range means that in-gear acceleration and overtaking is a breeze.

In standard form, the BMW M3 4.0 V8 produces 555 hp, however the addition of a PowerchipGold 93 will increase the power to 593 hp. In addition to the extra power, the torque is also increased. The M3 4.0 V8 produces 213 lb.-ft standard, and this is increased to 227 lb.-ft. This means more pulling power especially up hills.

The manufacturers of your car have tuned the full throttle maps very well from the factory settings and as such there are smaller percentage gains available on full throttle with the Powerchip. However, with the Powerchip there is still a great improvement in part throttle power, which is where you will spend most of your driving day. Throttle response is also sharpened significantly and the strong mid-range means that in-gear acceleration and overtaking is a breeze.

I have attached a couple dyno charts for your viewing. The first one is with just software only (stage I), and the second one is with high flow cats / Xpipe with our Stage II software. Those interested in obtaining air filters, high flow cats, x pipe, or rear muffler before the event, please let me know and we can tailor a package deal that works for you.

mike, thanks for jumping into the thread and providing us some information. and thanks for dropping the stage II GB price down even more! i'm probably going to give you a call to ask a couple questions, but for the benefit of others interested on this thread, i think it would be helpful for you to address the concern that people have since their cars are under warranty and worry that if a tune is discovered by BMW during a routine maintenance appointment, their warranty could be voided. i know you get this question about 10 times a day, but i think it's going to put a lot of concerns to rest for people on this thread.

i know that for those of us interested in the stage II tune, there is an option to pay a nominal fee to upgrade to the stage II + vanos tune and receive the handheld device to flash your car back to stock, etc. could you elaborate more on when this new tune and handheld will be available?

and lastly, there is a decent amount of interest on the e90post side of the group buy and some of the 335/328 guys are wondering about numbers for their cars. any dynos you could post for those models?

I'm interested. I'm taking delivery of my new-to-me 2008 E90 M3 on 5/1, so after that I'm good to go. What would a "package" (air filters, high flow cats, x pipe, or rear muffler before the event) price look like?

As far as exhaust systems, I mainly deal with the Akrapovic exhaust system (either full exhaust or just rear section), and the fabspeed HFC's + Xpipe. I can however get you any exhaust you are looking for - just let me know which one.

The Fabspeed HFC's + Xpipe are normally $2450 and the Stage II tune $1490 which is a total of about 4K. If you buy the package I can knock about $600 off which is a pretty good deal.

Full Akra system will run around $5700 which is a lot cheaper than I've seen around here.

Many of our customers are concerned about their new car warranty, and how the Powerchip will effect it. Often dealers give customers the impression that the warranty for the vehicle will be made void if any modifications / improvements are made.

Because this is obviously an issue for concern, we have designed the system so that you can still enjoy the potential of your car and have fun, without anyone ever knowing you have made the change. We can achieve this by making the Powerchip so that it appears 'electronically' the same as the factory programing. This means that the diagnostic equipment used at your local service center cannot detect that any change as been made, and thus your warranty is totally covered.

One of the best things about the Powerchip is that when you have the car serviced, the dealer cannot find your chip in any way. Generally, the dealer will run a diagnostic check over the vehicle, to see if any faults or problems have been logged in the vehicles computer. The Powerchip will interact in exactly the same way as the standard chip, and will not alert the dealer of any change.

I have attached a dyno of a 335 for those interested. It's about a 60HP gain with massive increases in torque. Please contact me if you would like any more info! I hope I didn't miss any of your questions.

Thanks for the info Mike. Follow-up question: What happens when the dealership service dept "re-flashes" your car? Is your ECU tune essentially wiped out then and have to be re-done?

Also - I think I read on one of these posts that if the redline is raised, the dealership will discover that as it will send a "red flag" when they run their diagnostics. Is this true? I think a lot of guys are choosing to not to raise their limiter for this reason. Can you comment on this? Do we have the choice with your software tune?